The Maharashtra Cabinet approved the conversion of decommissioned carrier INS Viraat into a floating museum. It was decommissioned in March 2017.

The project worth 852 crore rupees will be implemented through public-private-partnership (PPP).

New Delhi

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Support and Outreach Programme

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Support and Outreach Programme in New Delhi.

The MSME Outreach Programme will run for 100 days covering 100 Districts throughout the country.

Railways eliminates Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs) on Broad Gauge

Indian Railway has taken a mission area to eliminate all Unmanned Level Crossings (UMLCs) on Broad Gauge.

Four new Supreme Court judges sworn in

Justices Hemant Gupta, R.Subhash Reddy, M.R. Shah and Ajay Rastogi were sworn in as judges of the Supreme Court, taking its strength to 28.

INTERNATIONAL

Japan cabinet approves bill to accept foreign workers

Japan’s cabinet approved a draft bill to bring more blue-collar foreign workers into the country to address chronic labour shortages.

Over 7 million Yemeni children face serious famine threat: UN

Over seven million children face a serious threat of famine in Yemen – UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said.

UK plans new fund for Indian soldiers who fought in World Wars

The UK government has unveiled plans to offer support to Indian soldiers who fought for Britain during the two World Wars.

Palau to ban sunscreen

In an attempt to protect the coral reefs, the Pacific nation of Palau will soon ban “reef-toxic” sunscreen from 2020.

SCIENCE

NASA’s historic Dawn mission to asteroid belt comes to end

NASA’s pioneering Dawn spacecraft launched in 2007 to study the protoplanet Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres orbited the two largest objects in the asteroid belt has run out of fuel, ending a historic 11-year mission that unravelled many mysteries of our solar system.

China launches new high-orbit satellite

China successfully launched a high orbit satellite to boost its home-grown BeiDou global satellite navigation system. It is the first BeiDou-3 satellite in high orbit, about 36,000 km above the Earth.

It will be the fourth global satellite navigation system after the US GPS system, Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

GST collection crosses Rs 1 lakh crore

Collections from Goods and Services Tax crossed one lakh crore rupees mark for the second time since its launch in July last year. The government said the total gross GST revenue collected in October 2018 is 1 lakh 710 crore rupees.

India extends deadline for imposition of higher customs duties on 29 US products

India has extended the deadline for the imposition of higher customs duties on 29 US products, including almond, walnut and pulses, by another 45 days till 17th of next month.

SUMMITS & CONFERENCES

Naval Commanders’ Conference

The second edition of this years’ bi-annual Naval Commanders’ Conference concluded at New Delhi.

Rome Film Festival

India was partner country at Videocittà 2018, an event focussing on Virtual Reality, Video gaming, Animation, Film Making, etc. was organized along with Rome Film Festival.

India Pavilion Inaugurated at Videocittà 2018 in Rome Film Festival.

SCHEMES

Atal Pension Yojana

More than one crore 20 lakh subscribers have joined Atal Pension Yojana.

States, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the top contributors in the Atal Pension Yojana enrollment.

The scheme is available for all the citizens of India who fall in the age group of 18 to 40 years. Under it, subscribers receive a minimum guaranteed pension of 1000 rupees to 5000 rupees per month from the age of 60 years.